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| Che Power of 


“Jesus Christ 


in the Lite of 
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The American Student Series 


| The Power of 
Jesus Christ in the 
Life of the Student 


MR. JOHN R. MOTT. 


Published by the Board of Education of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, Rev. William F. 
Anderson, Corresponding Secretary, 150 Fifth 
Avenue, New York City. 

Price: 3 cents per copy in quantities of less 
than one hundred, postpaid ; in quantities of one 
hundred or more at $2.00 per hundred, not prepaid. 








THE POWER OF JESUS 
CHRIST IN THE LIFE 
OF THE STUDENT. 


Mr.Joun R. Morr. 


The present is preéminently 
an age of power. The military 
and naval power of the nations 
is vastly greater than in the 
past, both in point of defensive 
and also of destructive ability. 
The power of organization is 
far more highly developed than 
ever before, whether in indus- 
try, commerce, politics, social 
movements, or religious enter- 
prises. The accumulations and 
achievements of wealth are 
immeasurably beyond those of 
earlier times. Power over the 
forces of nature is so much in 
advance of the past that the triumphs of our 
day would have been regarded as almost mirac- 
ulous two generations or even one generation 
ago. But Jesus Christ is the same—yesterday, 
today, yea and forever—as in the past, so to- 
day the source of all superhuman power, He 
only can adequately empower one’s life. A 
splendid physique, a highly trained intellect, 
attractive social qualities, a strong personality, 
an influential family name, large financial pos- 





3 


sessions,all these and other thing's contribute to 
one’s power, but apart from Jesus Christ a man 
is comparatively weak. There are manifesta- 
tions of His power which should bring Him 
close to the student and which should lead the 
student to relate his life to this great Source of 
divine life and energy. 

Jesus Christ has power to overcome the 
force of temptation. This concerns every stu- 
dent and concerns him every day. The man 
does not live who is not tempted. Happily all 
are not yielding to temptation, but true it is 
that all are tempted. This will be a life-long 
experience. Life is a great battle-ground and 
the war will never cease. We would not have 
it otherwise, because temptations are not with> 
out their great advantage. They constitute 
the drill ground of character. The strongest 
, men in our colleges are the men who have come 
to recognize that temptations are not to be 
yielded to, but to be overcome, and who, in the 
process of overcoming, have received the dis- 
cipline necessary to develop strong character. 
While temptation is not in itself evil, the 
yielding to temptation is aterrible thing. Each 
yielding to temptation is sin, and the influence 
of sin is invariably deteriorating and deaden- 
ing. ‘The serious aspect of the subject which 
should startle and stimulate each man who has 
not been successfully resisting his temptations 
is that if he does not conquer his temptations 
his temptations will conquer him. Thereis no 
middle ground. Itis a choice between slavery 
and freedom. 

What is the secret of constant triumph over 
temptation? Some would answer that it lies 
in the exercise of the will. Experience shows, 
however, that the unaided will is not sufficient 


4 


to resist temptation in all its forms and in all 
degrees and at all times. Who can say, for 
example, that he has made his heart clean by 
the use of his unassisted will? Some urge that 
by withdrawal from the world one can best 
overcome temptation. This method is not 
practical in the present day. Moreover, many 
men who have tried this plan have testified 
that such withdrawal from association with 
their fellows has intensified their conflict with 
temptation. Some maintain that by professing 
‘belief in certain doctrines temptation can be 
overcome. Each one, however, can think of 
persons who have assented to long and true 
creeds but who have continued to be overcome 
by their temptations. Invaluable as true doc- 
trines are, they are not in themselves sufficient. 
Yet others emphasize that religious observ- 
ances constitute a sure means of securing vic- 
tory over temptation. But again, we must 
admit that some who are most faithful in the 
use of religious forms and ceremonies are still 
slaves of sin. Useful as such observances are, 
they do not in themselves afford complete 
safety. 

Temptation can be met only by an adequate 
power. Jesus Christ is that adequate power. 
This is not a dogmatic statement, but one of | 
scientific fact in the sense that it epitomizes 
the experience of men who have actually over- 
come. After giving an address in one of the 
European universities I invited the men pres- 
ent who did not believe in the deity of Christ, 
but who sincerely desired to come to know 
Christ as Lord, to meet me for a thorough con- 
sideration of the subject. Over fifty of the 
students came to the appointed place. We 
had an intense and helpful time together. As 


5 


the little meeting broke up one of the young 
men said in the hearing of some of the others 
that he had understood me to say that Jesus 
Christ only could enable a man to overcome 
all his temptations, but he wanted to bear testi- 
mony that without the help of Christ he had 
been able to obtain complete victory over his 
temptations. I said to him that he was the 
first man I. had found who could bear such 
testimony, and that I hoped that he could 
arrange to travel with me among the colleges, 
because there would be a great advantage in 
our being able to present to young men two 
methods by which they could obtain victory 
over temptation: I presenting to them Christ 
as the sufficient Saviour, and he setting forth 
the means by which he apart from Christ had 
overcome temptation. After some further 
discussion we separated. Late that night, in 
the course of interviews which I was having 
with different students who came to seek help, 
the young man who had taken this position 
called to see me alone. No sooner had I given 
him a seat by the fireplace than he broke down 
completely, confessing that he had added sin 
to sin; going on to say that he not only had 
failed to overcome his temptations, but that he 
had also tried to deceive his fellow students 
and me by giving us the impression that he 
had overcome. Christ is the only name given ~ 
under heaven among men whereby we must — 
be saved. If this seems harsh and dogmatic, 
it is dogmatic, let it be reiterated, in the scien- — 
tific sense which takes account of all the facts 
of experience. Moreover, this truth should 
stimulate great hopefulness in the life of any ~ 
discouraged man who has been worsted by his 
temptations. Let him write across his strong-_ 
6 ss 
~ 


est, fiercest, subtlest, most persistent tempta- 
tion the words, ‘‘Jesus Christ is able”; and 
let him know that these words are supported by 
a vast and ever increasing body of the experi- 
ences of tempted and triumphant men. I do 
not say that he will not continue to have fierce 
conflicts; I do not say that he will not need to 
watch and to pray; but I do say that he will 
have great victories, and that instead of aninter- 
‘ mittent experience he may come into a life 
of constant triumph. ; 
Jesus Christ has power to break the shack- 
les of evil habit. Here and there is a student 
who has yielded to his temptations so long 
that the chain of an evil habit has been forged 
upon him. The process may have gone on 
with his knowledge or he may for a long time 
have been in ignorance concerning it. It 
may be a habit which he began to form in 
boyhood, or it may have been acquired in 
young manhood. It may be a habit in the 
realm of the body or one in the realm of the 
mind. At last he wakes up to find that heisa 
slave. He does not need to be told this. That 
which he would, he does not; but the evil that 
he hates, that does he. Wherever a man would 
ance cannot, that is servitude. ‘There is no 
bondage like a sin-bound will unable to say a 
true no to the world, the flesh and the devil. 
One night at a university which I was visit- 
ing, a law student came to see me in order to 
learn how to break a certain evil habit. I 
asked him when he first yielded to the tempta- 
tion. He replied, ‘‘ Nearly three years ago.”’ 
‘‘How often,” said I, ‘‘did you yield that 
year?” -He indicated that he had been over- 
come by it but once during that first year he 
was in college. ‘‘ How often did you yield the 


7 


second year?’’ He said he had yielded three 
times the second year and that he remembered 
it by the fact that he had yielded once in each 
of the three sessions. ‘‘ How has it been with 
you this year?” I asked. He replied that it 
had more often been once a week than a longer 
interval. ‘This illustrates the working of habit. 
It winds its toils more and more closely and 
more and more rapidly each successive year. 
May God pity that student who feels the fetters 
of any evil habit sinking into his life. 

The burning question of the slave of habit 
is not, where can I find good maxims and 
advice. The world is filled with good sermons 
and exhortations and counsels. His question 
is not, where can I find good examples. He 
can think of the lives of a number of men like 
whom he would be. He is not asking for some 
new and high ideal. He already has ideals 
which tantalize him. The great question with 
him is: Where and how can I find a power 
which will enable me to live up to the good 
maxims, examples, and ideals which I already 
possess? In this connection contrast what 
Christ offers such a man with what other 
religions hold out to him. Let me illustrate 
by a man who cannot swim being cast into a 
lake. What is the best word Confucius has for 
this man who is sinking? ‘‘Profit by your 
experience.’’ What is the most hopeful mes- 
sage which Buddha has for him? ‘‘Struggle.” 
What is the most encouraging teaching of 
Hinduism for the sinking man? ‘You will 
have another opportunity in the next incarna- 
tion.” What does Mohammedsay? ‘‘ Whether 
you sink or whether you survive, it is the will 
of God.”” And what does Jesus Christ say? 
‘“Take my hand.” There is all the difference 


8 


in the world between His answer and that of 
other religions and of all other so-called 
saviours. It is the difference between sinking 
and being led out to solid rock. 

The recoverableness of man at his worst is 
the gift of Christ. He Himself announced 
that He came to proclaim deliverance to the 
captives. The student who takes this mighty 
Saviour, Christ, as his constant Companion ; 
who multiplies points of contact with Him by 
cultivating right habits of personal Bible study 
and secret prayer, by observing the practice 
of reminding himself of the presence of Christ» 
by availing himself of the great help of the 
Holy Communion, by associating with those 
who actually know Christ in experience, and 
by seeking to get out of himself and into the 
lives of others by helpful service, and who 
thus gives Christ an adequate chance to bring 
His power to bear; will be emancipated and 
led in triumph day by day. He will discover 
the large and wonderful content of the words, 
‘Tf the Son shall make you free, ye shall be 
free indeed.” ‘ 

Jesus Christ has power to take away from 
one’s life the sense of burden or remorse 
caused by sin. What student is there who 
has not sinned; that is, who has not,yielded to 
incitements from within or without to do 
wrong. True, he may have kept himself free 
from gross, outbreaking sins, but let him take 
a full, honest look at his hidden life. Does he 
not discover there the presence of pride, evil 
temper, uncharitableness, selfishness, impurity 
of thought or motive? Someone may say that 
these are small sins. There is no such thing 
as asmall sin. The smallest sin is a lapse, a 
fall, a letting down of high standards, and the 


9 


conscientious man cannot be satisfied with 
such an experience. If such an unprejudiced, 
fearless view of one’s inner life, by which 
God judges a man, be not sufficient, let him 
look at the example of Jesus Christ and His 
requirements, and the sense of guilt or 
remorse because of his own shortcomings and 
sins will deepen. 

This sense of remorse or burden because of 
sin committed or tolerated in the life is a 
reality. It is not for the man who merely 
theorizes or philosophizes upon the subject to 
say that there is no such thing as remorse for 
sin. It is for the man who has sinned to 
testify on that point. Wherever I have gone, 
both.in Christian and non-Christian countries, 
students in large numbers have come to me to 
tell of the reality of this experience as a result 
of their sins and to seek relief. Henry Drum- 
mond used to tell us that as young men left 
their homes to go upto the universities or cities 
the honie voices said, ‘‘Keep your garments 
unspotted from the world,” but that in many 
cases some day or some night there came the 
first spot. Later there came other spots, but 
none stood out in deeper black or in more lurid 
red than the stain caused by a man’s first sin. 

No man can remove the blots and stains or 
the sense of burden or remorse caused by his 
sins. Everywhere men are trying to do this 
impossible thing. In Mohammedan lands I 
have witnessed them going through their pros- 
trations and ablutions for this purpose. In 


India and other lands, I have seen them going 


on their pilgrimages and subjecting themselves 
to various tortures that they might get released 
from the sense of their sins. In Buddhist 
countries I have seen them occupied with their 


10 


many prayers from the same motive. In all 
lands, Christian and non-Christian, men are 
seeking by vain resolutions to loose themselves 
from their sins. Up and down the world one 
observes the same strugeglings and strivings. 
It is the problem of Lady Macbeth over again, 
‘“‘Out, damned spot.” But a conscientious 
and sympathetic study of the experiences of 
all these men reveals that in none of these 
ways do they obtain release from their sins. 
No, Jesus Christ and He only has power on 
earth to forgive sins and to lift from conscience 
and-heart the incubus due to sin. By His 
achievement on the cross, men are made clean 
and pure again. As has been pointed out by 
some one, this cutting away of a man’s past 
life was the greatest miracle which Christ 
came to perform. 

Nothing is more certain than the sense of 
release from remorse which comes from the 
discovery and assurance of remission of sins 
by Jesus Christ. It is a great and wonderful 
thing. It changes darkness into light, despair 
and gloom into peace and hope. I knew a 
student who committed a terrible sin some 
three or four miles from his home. He went 
away to college. The college was located 
twenty-five miles from his home by the direct 
railway route which passed in sight of the 
place where he had experienced his awful fall. 
There was a roundabout route from his home 
to the college, necessitating a journey of nearly 

one hundred miles. This student told me that 
he usually went by the longer route, although 
it cost him more time and money, in order to 
avoid the severe lashing and torture of con- 
science which was vividly experienced when 
passing by the place associated with his sin. 


‘ il 


One day he met Jesus Christ as the Saviour 
from the guilt of sin. Life at once became 
new. He found it possible to go with peace of 
heart by the short route between his home and 
college. He also was given the disposition 
and courage to do all that man could do to 
make atonement for his sin. If, as a man 
reads these words, some forgotten, unconfessed 
sin starts up in memory. let him deal with it 
in the only thorough and effective way, by 
claiming for himself in the most practical and 
definite manner Christ as his only sufficient 
Saviour from that sin as well as from all sins. 

Jesus Christ has power to lead men out 
of the mazes of doubt. Let us come to Him 
with our religious perplexities and problems. 
But some one objects. If I were free from my 
doubts I would come to Christ. Is not this 
begging the question? If you wait until you 
are free from your doubts before you come to 
Christ you will never come because you miss 
one of the greatest objects of, Christ’s mission 
ta men. He came not only to emancipate men 
from the power of.sin and evil habit and to 
break the force of temptation, but also to dis- 
solve doubt concerning essential spiritual 
truth. As Phillips Brooks has pointed out, 
Christ is not satisfied simply to win man's 
affection by His kindness, nor to govern man’s 
will by His authority, but He also wishes to 
persuade man’s mind with truth. 

At one of the Scandinavian universities I 
met a professor who had been brought up 
somewhat strictly and had had religious 
truth dogmatically pressed upon him as a 
boy. This prejudiced him deeply. When he 
went away later to attend the German univer- 
sities he broke away from his early beliefs and 


12 


drifted out on the wide sea of agnosticism. 
He tried in different ways to find his bearings 
but failed. He said to me, ‘‘ At last I decided 
to look to Christ again. In seeking to find 
what light His life and teachings might throw 
upon the religious problems which perplexed 
me, I found my way into satisfying truth.” 
During the years I have spent among students 
in hundreds of universities and colleges, I have 
found as a matter of fact that only as students 
come to Christ with their doubts do they obtain 
real relief and discover the paths which lead 
them out of the mazes of unbelief. I would 
therefore urge the doubting student on scien- 
tific and practical grounds, regardless of what 
his present view of Christ may be, to begin to 
study and obey Christ afresh and to continue 
so to do if he would obtain relief from his 
doubts. The reason for this, let it be reiter- 
ated, is that this is the method by which men 
have most quickly been lighted out of the dark 
The actual facts of the experiences of men 
corroborate the claim of Christ that He is the 
Way as well as the Truth and the Life. 
Remember His significant promise, ‘‘ He that 
cometh after me shall not walk in darkness, 
but shall have the light of life.” Observe in 
the first place that experience shows that it 
is by coming after Christ and after none other 
that the great result here promised is obtained. 
And observe also what is equally important, 
that it is he that cometh who finds himself 
ushered out into ever and ever greater light; not 
he that stands and prejudges the matter; not he 
that maintains that it transcends his experience 
and therefore cannot be; but he that sincerely, 
earnestly, and thoroughly seeks to follow the 
example and requirements of Christ discovers 


13 


that in the process of so doing he receives new 
and satisfying confirmatory evidence of what 
Christ is and does and reveals. 

Jesus Christ has power to make the most 
possible out of the life of the student. The 
great changes for better throughout the world 
during well-nigh two thousand years are trace- 
able to Christ. The three short years of His 
active ministry, as Lecky has said, have ‘‘ done 
more to regenerate and to soften mankind than 
all the disquisitions of philosophers and all the 
exhortations of moralists.” Christ is the chief 
influence in the greatest nations, and is most 
honored where the people are most free and 
most intelligent: He has shown His ability to 
take even the lapsed and basest individuals 
and peoples and re-make them, and raise 
up from among them men of saintliness and 
might. He is able likewise to enrich the lives 
of the best of men. 

There is nothing good which the student 
wants for his ideal which is not best found in 
and through Jesus Christ. Christ imparts a 
sense of reverence for the body as a temple of 
the living God. He stimulates and feeds the 
mind by the greatness of His conceptions and 
by the germinating power of His teachings. 
He enriches the emotional nature, creating and 
and developing finer feelings and _ sensi- 
bilities. He broadens and quickens within 
one sympathy for men. He generates the 
highest type of patriotism, that which desires 
to see one’s country a power for righteousness. 
Christ is greatest in the greatest realm, that of 
morals and religion. He makes the world a 
wondrous place, full of God. He admits us 
into the best of friendships and enlists us in 
the noblest and most unselfish forms of 


14 


service. In companionship with Him we have 
the deepest and richest experiences of life. By 
the loftiness of His own character and the 
magnificent sweep of His plans He lifts us 
from low levels and emancipates us from the 
narrow and the selfish. By showing what God 
is and what man may become He only reveals 
the full possibilities of life. By furnishing in 
Himself not only the perfect Pattern, but also 
the perfect Saviour and the perfect Power, He 
only can complete one’s life. Again, one must 


. admit that He is the Way, the Truth, and the 


Life. Whatever else the ambitious student, 
who wishes to make the most out of his life, 
misses, let him not miss availing himself of 
the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus Christ has the power to inspire men 
to heroic and unselfish service. He is not 
satisfied simply with the transformation of 
the individual. He wishes to make the most 
possible out of society. His program em- 
braces every man, every nation, every race, in 
the whole range of their being, in all their 
relationships, for the present and for the 
future. Some day His principles and His 
Spirit will have right of way among men, and 


‘His kingdom will become co-extensive with 


the inhabited earth. When Christ came 
among men he found them as a rule doing 
nothing with their religion save attending to 
its observances. He summoned them to serve 
their fellow men. He Himself set the exam- 
ple. The best epitome of His life is given in 
the sentence, ‘‘He went about doing good.” 

Professor James has emphasized that ‘‘what 
we need to discover in the social realm is the 
moral equivalent of war; something heroic, 
that will speak to men as universally as war 


15 


does, and yet will be as compatible with their 
spiritual selves as war has proved itself to be 
incompatible.” Jesus Christ has power to meet 
this need. He, as none other, moves men to 
heroic deeds. He inspires them with the 
most unselfish enthusiasm. He fires them 
with the passion of helpfulness. He creates 
a love which far transcends in force and qual- 
ity and scope the love of the patriot. He 
nerves men to endure any opposition, suffer- 
ing, or sacrifice. He impels men to noble and 
mighty achievements. Was it not Christ who 
prepared the little band which went forth to 
conquer the Roman Empire? Was it not 
Christ who used Clarkson to quicken the con- 
science of a whole nation to abolish the slave 
trade? Was it not Christ who energized 
Howard and enabled him single-handed to 
bring about in different lands reforms for the 
amelioration of the condition of prisoners? 
Christ sent Ruskin, Toynbee and Booth into the 
submerged districts to work for their redemp- 
tion. He thrust forth men of vision to found 
Christian colleges in the near and in the extreme 
Orient where Christian leaders could be trained 
for the multitudinous inhabitants of Asia. He 
commissioned choice spirits from all our uni- 
versities and colleges to go forth and proclaim 
good tidings and publish peace by the lakes of 
Africa, on the plains of India, and along the 
rivers of China. He inspired the students of 
both Orient and Occident, of Northern and 
Southern Hemispheres, to join forces in the 
sublime enterprise of world-wide evangel- 
ization. ‘The student who desires to leave the 
deepest mark for good upon his generation 
should relate himself to this great Source of 
divine life and energy. 


16 


Christ indeed is the strength of the stu- 
dent’s life. In Him resides all power. His 
power has not been diminished. It is inex- 
haustable; it is accessible; it is available. 
Each student needs the power of Christ; each 
student needs the Christ of power. If weneed 
Christ and ‘if he has the power we need and 
has shown himself trustworthy, should we not 
closein upon him? Inthe light of the evidence, 
can we question the reality of His trust- 
worthiness and power? What would you have 
Christ do which he has not already done to 
demonstrate his absolute reliability and omnip- 
otent might? Is it not right, therefore, that we 
give him opportunity to release His energies 
in our lives? Is any other attitudefair? Let 
us beware of what Bishop Westcott calls the 
‘hypocrisy of skepticism.” There are two 
kinds of hypocrisy, and one is as objectionable 
as the other. ‘There is the hypocrisy of Chris- 

-tians who may profess what they do not 
possess. There is also the hypocrisy of those 
who do not call themselves Christians, but who 
do not give themselves with resolution and 
honesty of heart to complying with the condi- 
tions laid down by Christ without compliance 
with which it is impossible for them to know 
Him or to experience His power. 

The student who has not definitely yielded 
his life to the sway of Christ as his divine 
Saviour and Lord is standing at the fork in 
the roads as he reads these words. He has 
the ability to choose which of the two roads he 
will take, and he knows that he has this ability. 
He can say, I will continue to go my own way 
although I must admit that it has not been satis- 
factory, for in following it I have not had the 
help of a power greater than my own and have 


17 


therefore fallen far short of what I might have 
attained. Or, he can say, I now resolve to go 
Christ’s way, the following of which has never 
led meninto the dark, but, which on the author- 
ity of Christ and all those who have sincerely 
complied with His conditions, leads into ever 
stronger light, ever greater power and ever 
deeper satisfaction. 


“Our wills are ours, we know not how 
Our wills are ours to make them Thine.”’ 


18 





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